What Is A Professional Internet Presence?
| Category: Net Business Start ups | Date: 2003-04-14 |
So, finally you decided to join to the club which already has more than 200 million members. That club is Internet.
Personally, I never like to be like others. I strive to be an unique, as much as I can in a positive way. It is the same thing on the Internet. If you want to be successful, people have to know about you, you have to be recognized. In order that people know who you are you have to be professional. Internet is the place where the first impression is the most important.
So, what do you have to do in order to people get professional image of you? I will try to explain you that.
1. Domain name
On the Internet domain names are very popular. Why is that? Registering a domain name is one of the first things you should do when you decide to start an online business. I dont say that if you register a domain you will have a good web site. You have to design a good web site. You should consider registering a domain name if you want people to take seriously what you do. I think that it is much better that your sites name is http://www.yourname.com than http://www.freewebspace.com/members/yourname
1.1 How to choose a good domain name
When people contact me to choose a good domain name for them, they expect a catchy name. These days, it is very time consuming to find a decent name. I guess you know that most of the good names are already registered. Dont expect that you will register a really great name.
A good solution if you want to register a very good name is to have a list of domain names which are expired because of non-payment. I use free service at http://www.localwhois.net/ where, beside other things, I get the list of available domain names. However, you can try to register a name that will represent your business. A good thing when you are choosing a domain name is if you put some keywords. Then, when people see your name, they know what is your site about. You can register a name that has nothing to do with your business. Then you should need to invest a lot of money in branding.
Some people advice that you put digits before the name. I dont like that. Also, someone might recommend you to register long domain names. They say, because of search engines. I dont think that it is very useful to put several keywords in your domain name expect that youll have high ranking on search engines. You can try searches on popular topics and see how many long domain names have high rankings.
1.2 Can you choose yourself a domain name
Some people might think why should someone else find and register domain names for them. You can try to register domain names yourself if you have a lot of time and knowledge. There are many things you should consider when registering or selling a domain name. You need to know that it is important to have a good domain name. People, while trying to register a domain name, soon find out that almost all domain names, which would be good for them, are already registered. Then they must know techniques which will enable them to register a good domain name.
2. Web hosting
When you have your domain name, you have to find a good place where you will put your web site. Of course, you can host your web site on some "free" web server, but you should know that not many things on the Internet are really free. That is very unprofessional option because then you have to put large sponsorhip banners or pop-up windows on every page. I guess that you dont want that.
If you want to have a professional Internet presence then you must also have a professional web hosting. Professional web hosting means fast servers, support for popular scripts like CGI, PHP, ASP, MySQL. Also, it is important that you have a SSI option, because then you will have aa easy job when you decide to update your web site.
Good web site for finding web hosting company is:
http://www.hostindex.com
3. List hosting
Professional Internet presence also requires that you stay in touch with your visitors and customers. The best way to do it is to start your own newsletter. Why is that important? Most people wont buy your product on their first visit to your web site. They need your advice to buy exactly your product because "it is the best, the cheapest" etc. You can tell them when you will make an update, to visit your site again, and so you get repeat visits. You should provide some useful content in your newsletter to make them stay as your subscribers.
3.1 HTML vs. Plain
When you decide to publish your email newsletter, you should ask yourself do you want that your newsletter be HTML, Plain or that you offer both types. Each type has its advantages and dissadvantages. When you publish a HTML your newsletter can be the same like your web site. Your newsletter can be colorful, you can put images, you can put forms, in one word you can design it better. HTML newsletters are also good because of advertising. You could have fancy ads there and more important you can track how many people have opened your email newsletter. Also, there is a good option that you can hide long affiliate links in some word that links to the certain web site. However, some people dont like HTML newsletters. This type of newsletter is much larger than a plain version. Some ISP have some limits for the message size. Also, HTML newsletters are mostly interested for people who spend much time online, because if you are not online you wont be able to see images, banners... Some people are also worried because of the security. In HTML newsletters some people can put some scripts that can make harm to your computer.
You could realize that the best solution would be that if you want to have your HTML that you also offer a plain newsletter.
3.2 How to publish it?
When you decide to send your email newsletter to your subscribers, you have to choose whether you will pay for it or not. If you have good promotion you should use a paid email services. Then you will have some advanced options like personalization, demographic statistics etc. Although some free email services will put their ads in your newsletter, you can use free email services if you dont have a good promotion budget.
Free list hosting services:
http://www.topica.com
http://www.yahoogroups.com
Paid list hosting services:
http://www.skylist.net
http://www.lyris.net
As you could read in this article, in order to have a professional Internet presence, you have to invest some money in professional services. Later on, you can have more benefits than costs. Be professional!
About the Author
Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for SKYLIST, Inc. SKYLIST is a permission-based email delivery and list management services company. SKYLIST solutions assist businesses to seamlessly deliver, track, and report the results of email communications. For more information visit: skylist.net
debizi@yahoo.com
http://www.skylist.net
Personally, I never like to be like others. I strive to be an unique, as much as I can in a positive way. It is the same thing on the Internet. If you want to be successful, people have to know about you, you have to be recognized. In order that people know who you are you have to be professional. Internet is the place where the first impression is the most important.
So, what do you have to do in order to people get professional image of you? I will try to explain you that.
1. Domain name
On the Internet domain names are very popular. Why is that? Registering a domain name is one of the first things you should do when you decide to start an online business. I dont say that if you register a domain you will have a good web site. You have to design a good web site. You should consider registering a domain name if you want people to take seriously what you do. I think that it is much better that your sites name is http://www.yourname.com than http://www.freewebspace.com/members/yourname
1.1 How to choose a good domain name
When people contact me to choose a good domain name for them, they expect a catchy name. These days, it is very time consuming to find a decent name. I guess you know that most of the good names are already registered. Dont expect that you will register a really great name.
A good solution if you want to register a very good name is to have a list of domain names which are expired because of non-payment. I use free service at http://www.localwhois.net/ where, beside other things, I get the list of available domain names. However, you can try to register a name that will represent your business. A good thing when you are choosing a domain name is if you put some keywords. Then, when people see your name, they know what is your site about. You can register a name that has nothing to do with your business. Then you should need to invest a lot of money in branding.
Some people advice that you put digits before the name. I dont like that. Also, someone might recommend you to register long domain names. They say, because of search engines. I dont think that it is very useful to put several keywords in your domain name expect that youll have high ranking on search engines. You can try searches on popular topics and see how many long domain names have high rankings.
1.2 Can you choose yourself a domain name
Some people might think why should someone else find and register domain names for them. You can try to register domain names yourself if you have a lot of time and knowledge. There are many things you should consider when registering or selling a domain name. You need to know that it is important to have a good domain name. People, while trying to register a domain name, soon find out that almost all domain names, which would be good for them, are already registered. Then they must know techniques which will enable them to register a good domain name.
2. Web hosting
When you have your domain name, you have to find a good place where you will put your web site. Of course, you can host your web site on some "free" web server, but you should know that not many things on the Internet are really free. That is very unprofessional option because then you have to put large sponsorhip banners or pop-up windows on every page. I guess that you dont want that.
If you want to have a professional Internet presence then you must also have a professional web hosting. Professional web hosting means fast servers, support for popular scripts like CGI, PHP, ASP, MySQL. Also, it is important that you have a SSI option, because then you will have aa easy job when you decide to update your web site.
Good web site for finding web hosting company is:
http://www.hostindex.com
3. List hosting
Professional Internet presence also requires that you stay in touch with your visitors and customers. The best way to do it is to start your own newsletter. Why is that important? Most people wont buy your product on their first visit to your web site. They need your advice to buy exactly your product because "it is the best, the cheapest" etc. You can tell them when you will make an update, to visit your site again, and so you get repeat visits. You should provide some useful content in your newsletter to make them stay as your subscribers.
3.1 HTML vs. Plain
When you decide to publish your email newsletter, you should ask yourself do you want that your newsletter be HTML, Plain or that you offer both types. Each type has its advantages and dissadvantages. When you publish a HTML your newsletter can be the same like your web site. Your newsletter can be colorful, you can put images, you can put forms, in one word you can design it better. HTML newsletters are also good because of advertising. You could have fancy ads there and more important you can track how many people have opened your email newsletter. Also, there is a good option that you can hide long affiliate links in some word that links to the certain web site. However, some people dont like HTML newsletters. This type of newsletter is much larger than a plain version. Some ISP have some limits for the message size. Also, HTML newsletters are mostly interested for people who spend much time online, because if you are not online you wont be able to see images, banners... Some people are also worried because of the security. In HTML newsletters some people can put some scripts that can make harm to your computer.
You could realize that the best solution would be that if you want to have your HTML that you also offer a plain newsletter.
3.2 How to publish it?
When you decide to send your email newsletter to your subscribers, you have to choose whether you will pay for it or not. If you have good promotion you should use a paid email services. Then you will have some advanced options like personalization, demographic statistics etc. Although some free email services will put their ads in your newsletter, you can use free email services if you dont have a good promotion budget.
Free list hosting services:
http://www.topica.com
http://www.yahoogroups.com
Paid list hosting services:
http://www.skylist.net
http://www.lyris.net
As you could read in this article, in order to have a professional Internet presence, you have to invest some money in professional services. Later on, you can have more benefits than costs. Be professional!
About the Author
Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for SKYLIST, Inc. SKYLIST is a permission-based email delivery and list management services company. SKYLIST solutions assist businesses to seamlessly deliver, track, and report the results of email communications. For more information visit: skylist.net
debizi@yahoo.com
http://www.skylist.net
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